As gifted in production as he is in songwriting, James Blake is a multi-faceted artist that draws from his background in experimental electronica to create the soulful but sonically adventurous ballads that make up his contemporary output.
On his latest album, Trying Times, Blake decorates his heartfelt crooning with scattered electronic beats, nervy synths and processed samples, resulting in a hybrid sound that owes as much to the cerebral post-dubstep of his early years as the more conventional influences – Joni Mitchell, D’Angelo, Leonard Cohen – that have shaped his songwriting.
